The invention relates to milking apparatus, and more particularly to an improved milk tube connected between a milking claw and a teat cup.
Milking apparatus known in the prior art includes a plurality of teat cups connected to the cow, a milking claw having a plurality of inlets and having a discharge outlet through which the milk is suctioned, and a plurality of flexible milk tubes each connected between a respective teat cup and claw inlet. The milk tube is straight before connection to the claw inlet and the teat cup, and upon such connection curves outwardly and upwardly from the claw inlet to the teat cup which is mounted on the cow's teat.
The present invention involves recognition of a source of unnecessary flow restriction in the milk tube. Upon connection between the claw inlet and the teat cup, the milk tube is stressed to curve outwardly and upwardly from the claw inlet to the teat cup. It has been found that the noted stressing of the milk tube tends to deform the tube toward the claw inlet opening to reduce the inner cross sectional area of the tube and decrease the inner clearance between the tube and the claw inlet opening, which restricts flow. It has also been found that in the non-milking position with the teat cup hanging downwardly, the tube does not provide as good a shut-off seal against the claw inlet as desired.
The present invention provides simple structure recognizing the cause of the above noted problems and effectively solving same. The present invention provides a pre-curved milk tube which is not stressed in the milking position and instead retains its full circular size in the inlet area, which provides less restriction to flow. In the non-milking position with the teat cup hanging downwardly, the pre-curved milk tube has to rotate through a greater range from its unstressed upwardly curved position to the downward non-milking position, which provides a better shut-off seal than a straight tube.